Strawberry Lemon Kefir Pie

This is one of the first dessert recipes I ever made with kefir. It's still a favorite and one I serve often in the summertime. It's an icebox pie that has a wonderful flavor that you can enhance by using different fruits. This was served to the staff and crew for a PBS special I was in and everybody gobbled it up!

Course: Dessert

Servings: servings

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup Sprouted Graham Crackers (You can use regular graham crackers too)
1/4 cup butter melted

Filling

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin or 2 packs unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup milk
1 cup Kefir
8 ounces cream cheese
1 small lemon zest and juice
1-2 cups strawberries chopped
1/2 cup honey or Stevia *See Note Below

Instructions

Crust

Place all ingredients for crust in a food processor. Process for 1 minute or until blended well.
Press into pie pan.

Filling

Place milk and gelatin in a pan and heat until gelatin is dissolved and it comes to a boil. Cool for 5 minutes.
Place cream cheese and milk in food processor with lemon zest and juice and process for 30 seconds or until thoroughly mixed. Before you add kefir, make sure that your mixture is cool and not hot. You don't want to kill the good bacteria in the kefir.
Add kefir and honey to the cream cheese mixture and process until thoroughly mixed, about 15 to 20 seconds.
Pour into pie crust.
Chill for about an hour or until firm.
Place strawberries on top. Garnish with fresh basil.

Notes

I use stevia. I like to use different versions together - such as a liquid and powdered version of stevia. When used together they seem to work better. For a regular sweetener, honey, Sucanat, or coconut sugar are good choices. Taste it as you are adding the sweetener to see if you need to add more or less.